Dear Representative:
On behalf of the 350,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I urge you to support Representative Steve Chabot's amendment to the Department of the Interior Appropriations Bill that would eliminate taxpayer subsidies given to the timber industry for logging in Tongass National Forest.
In 2004, the Forest Service spent more than $48 million on the Tongass timber program, but took in less than $800,000 from timber companies in revenue. Although elimination of this program by itself will not solve our nation's enormous deficit, getting rid of these special-interest subsidies is a good first step in the effort to restore fiscal sanity to Washington.
As you know, NTU and its members support logging and timber extraction efforts when they are economically viable and do not require taxpayer subsidies. We also strongly support the sale of land owned by the federal government and the return of profits from those sales to taxpayers. Perhaps under private ownership, logging in the Tongass would be economically viable. However, Forest Service activities in the Tongass National Forest are not viable under current market conditions and taxpayers should not be expected to fund their operation.
NTU strongly supports efforts to reduce wasteful and inefficient federal spending. Please note that in our annual Rating of Congress, NTU weights all votes based on their impact on American taxpayers. Thus votes on the Chabot Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill will be weighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
Sincerely,
Paul J. Gessing
Director of Government Affairs